State EDD backlog still above 1 million
Agency continues to chip away at overflow of claims
The backlog of California workers still awaiting resolution of differing types of unemployment claims that spiked amid coronavirus-linked business shutdowns remains well above 1 million, a new state report shows.
The state Employment Development Department has slowly drained a lake of unemployment claims that swamped the agency in the past seven months.
Despite progress, an estimated 1.1 million workers in California remain stuck in a backlog of unpaid claims while the EDD scrambles to pay their benefits or resolve their claims, the EDD reported.
At one point during the spring, the backlog was around 1.8 million.
Jobless workers and state lawmakers have blasted the EDD’s fumbles as it seeks to pay workers who, in some cases, were waiting for their first unemployment payments since midMarch.
In early October, the EDD launched a hightech verification tool that the labor agency was betting would produce significant progress against the huge backlog of claims.
Progress has begun to materialize, EDD statistics show.
During the week ended Sept. 30, the first timeframe for which the EDD has released firm numbers about unpaid claims, the overall backlog was 1.56 million California workers. By the
week ending Oct. 7, it had declined 14 percent to 1.34 million. And as of the week ended Oct. 14, the claims backlog totaled 1.2 million for a drop of 10% compared to the prior week.
Though the most recent week brought more declines, it also indicates that the EDD’s pace of improvement has begun to falter. The backlog of 1.1 million workers was down 98,900 from the prior week for a decline of just 8%, the EDD reported.
That overall number consists of two categories:
• 331,500 workers who had filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits but who have been forced to wait more than 21 days without receiving any payment or a notification about their eligibility for any payment.
• 773,900 workers who had received one payment but have been waiting more than 21 days for a second payment or notification
about whether they would be receiving any additional payments.